


100% Okay!

by IntrovertedHappiness



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Author Projecting onto Taako (The Adventure Zone), Chronic Pain, Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hiding Medical Issues, Hurt/Comfort, Lack of Communication, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Not Beta Read, Physical Disability, Secrets, Self-Worth Issues, a tiny vent fic? more likely than u think, bc i feel weird asking ppl oof, breakdown - Freeform, idk how to tag still wow, rated for language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:27:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26463394
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IntrovertedHappiness/pseuds/IntrovertedHappiness
Summary: It's not that getting help is bad. If it was someone else, Taako would be allaboutthem getting help. But it wasn't someone else. It was him. Him and his stupid legs that had been fucked up since Wonderland. No one needed to know about it. He could handle it himself.
Relationships: (neither are focused on), Barry Bluejeans/Lup, Kravitz/Taako (The Adventure Zone)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 113





	100% Okay!

“You know you’re not supposed to do this, right?” Taako muttered, sliding down the side of the wall. “Like, fuck, what the fuck?”

There was really no excuse for his legs to give out on him like this. He wasn’t even two hundred yet, so whatever point his body was trying to make was a stupid one. And yet, here he was, once again, huddled against the wall like it was his only lifeline, with his family in the room over, blissfully unaware. He could hear them talking through the wall. Part of him knew that they would hate to see him like this, the other part begged for their help.

But, uh, Taako wasn’t a big fan of _asking for help_ when it wasn’t that much pain. Besides, he had dealt with this all before.

Since Story and Song, his legs had been giving in. Guess that was the Hunger’s last final gift for him, huh? Fuck him up for months. (Though, the Hunger wasn’t really to blame when it was Wonderland that dropped a giant metal box on his legs.) Not that Taako hadn’t tried to fix it, of course, but it’s hard to go anywhere discreetly when you’re _one of the seven people who saved the entire goddamn universe_. He goes outside limping and the press will be on that story in an instant. No siree, Taako was good without having more of his life in the public eye.

And he was _one hundred percent okay_ with hiding it from his family. Uh-huh. No question. It was the _best option_.

But Taako was really starting to feel like the best option wasn’t the best option.

There was only so long he could pretend to take a bathroom break before Lup or Kravitz came looking. Hell, even Barry’d come if given long enough. So Taako struggled to his feet, heavily leaning against the wall, and haphazardly struggled to the stairs. His hips were screaming with each step, pain shooting down his entire leg. There was a very large chance his ankles were swollen.

But he had pain potions upstairs. Taako acquired them after another mission gone awry, but most of the time he used them for pain like this. He just had to… make it up the stairs. Yeah. He could do that. He was _Taako_. You know, from _TV_? He wasn’t going to let the stairs beat him.

Lifting his foot more than an inch off the ground was a terrible, terrible mistake. Taako gritted his teeth so hard they might crack, hand curled tight against the railing and took his first step up. Then, after a moment, the next foot followed.

Okay. He was up one stair. Only eleven more to go, no biggie.

(Yes, biggie.)

Just… First foot up. Pause. Second foot up. Pause.

First foot. Pause. Second foot. Pause.

First foot. Pause. Second foot. Pause.

First foot. Pause. Second foot. Pause.

The first foot doesn’t make it up again. Instead, a bolt of electric pain slammed through him from his foot up to his hip. Taako wobbled for a second on the stairs, letting out a hiss as the pain continued the come in crashing waves. And then, in a split second, he was tumbling down the stairs that he had just _painstakingly_ climbed up.

For some reason, he couldn’t really bring himself to care that he had just fallen down the stairs. He’d be ashamed, embarrassed, about it later- an elf at his age should be young and spry and hearty- but the pain occupied ninety percent of his mind right now. As if they had a mind of their own, Taako’s legs were twitching uselessly. Each slight move sent a bolt of pain up his hips. Each bolt of pain brought a terribly pathetic whine from his throat. Okay, maybe now was the time to be embarrassed. He had just fallen down the _fucking stairs_.

The other ten percent of his brain that wasn’t focused on pain and/or humiliation heard the scrapping of chairs in the room over. There was a hot flash of a few emotions all at once; mortification, that his family would see him like this. A pleading sort of hope, that he might be able to get help now. A dash of anger, because he didn’t need help, he was fine, it was fine-

“Holy shit, Ko, did you fall down the stairs?”

Yep. He was on point in predicting his embarrassment. Taako threw his arm over his face, covering up the hot, uncomfortable flush that was rising. The footsteps thundered around him. All three of them, by the sound of it.

Someone laid a hand on his knee.

Taako’s body was flooded with pain. Suddenly, the clothes gripping around his legs were much too tight, too close to his body. He actually let out a scream and jolted away from the hand, body burning. He ran straight into someone behind him, bumping into their legs, and tried to rocket himself the other direction. But his legs wouldn’t let him stand or crawl or _anything_. So Taako dragged himself back with his arms, tears he would not allow threatening to spill over.

“Taako?” and the faces were coming in now, though they were blurry behind yet shed tears. From where they stood, it was obvious to him that Barry had been the one to place a hand on his knee. Usually, Taako wouldn’t mind. Unless he was in great distress, he was usually fine receiving physical touch from his family. But the thing was… Fuck. Did this count as great distress?

“Taako,” Kravitz repeated, almost pleadingly. He looked worried. Hell, they all looked worried, but Lup and Barry had dealt with more of his breakdowns than Kravitz had.

“Don’t- don’t worry, sweetcheeks,” Taako said, voice not helping his case. He sounded thick and unsteady. “Taako’s all good.”

“You fell down the stairs,” Lup said, more a fact than a question this time. Taako’s ears flicked down, pressed against his head.

“I didn’t notice,” Taako said, flippantly. He dragged himself a bit further away, anxiety starting to creep into his chest, but hit the wall. They were going to find out he was broken, weren’t they? They were going to find out how messed up his whole body was.

“I’m like, _ninety-seven percent_ sure that you did notice, though,” Lup said. Taako hated to see the concern on her face. An icy rush of panic was crawling up his throat. The last time he felt like this, _truly_ afraid of a secret spilling, is when he was a child. He and Lup had been traveling with a group of street performers. He remembers the cold chill as he- just fourteen years old- knocked a week’s supply of food off the back of the wagon. They fled before anyone noticed.

That’s what Taako feels like now. Scared, in trouble, afraid of getting caught, just wanting to run. But there was nowhere to go that his legs would take him, so he bunkered down and did what he did best.

Try to bluff his way out of it.

“ _Oh_ , that little thing,” Taako said, a nervous laugh escaping from the back of his throat. “Yeah, no big deal. Just missed a step.”

“And screamed when Barry touched you?” Lup pressed.

“Mh-mm,” Taako confirmed in the positive. “Wasn’t expecting it, that’s all.”

“Please don’t lie if you’re hurt, Koko,” Lup said.

At the same time, Barry said, “You looked more in pain than in shock.”

At the same time, Kravitz said, “You don’t have to lie to us, love.”

The sentences were all mismatched, but Taako got the picture. The picture, in fact, was super clear. They cared. They wanted to help. Taako didn’t know how long that would last once they found out that nothing he had done could heal this, but right now… Right now, their faces look down at him with nothing but reverence and concern.

That, plus an unfortunate timing of a big, ugly twitch in Taako’s left hip, broke the dams.

He tried to curl in on himself, away from their eyes, but his legs wouldn’t let him. Instead, the tears poured down his face as he leaned back against the wall. He didn’t know where to put his hands, so he clutched them into fists, one gripping the edge of his shirt, the other shoved unhelpfully near his mouth to try to muffle any sobs.

There was a time when Taako would have to wait until alone to cry like this. A time where he was sisterless and friendless and alone. Now, Lup pressed to his side, uncurling his fingers from his shirt and squeezing his hand. Kravitz kneeled on his other side, careful not to touch his legs because they must have some sort of clue by now. Taako buried his face into his chest, choking out breaths.

Taako heard more than he saw Barry opening a pocket dimension (he stored stuff in it because he didn’t like having lumps in his jeans when he had to carry things). There was a zip as the dimension closed and a clink as Barry uncapped something. Taako turned his head to see Barry offering a potion.

“It might help,” Barry said soothingly, swirling the green liquid around in the vial. “It’s just a pain potion.”

“How strong is it?” Taako asked, peaking from his place against Kravitz’s chest, sniffling slightly.

“Pretty strong,” Barry said. “It’s like the one’s Merle would give us if we broke a bone. Strong enough to block the pain out for a few hours. If you’d like.”

Taako swallowed the potion in one gulp. It tasted like key lime gogurt, but everything always did.

They stayed there awhile, on the floor, Taako shuddering through tears as the pain calmed itself down. The effect wasn’t instant like the pain potions he had upstairs, but those were for smaller injuries and would only last an hour at most. They helped him to the couch once things had settled down enough, never questioning why the afternoon had turned into this, only asking him what he needed.

Taako leaned against Kravitz’s shoulder, legs propped up, growing tired. He could still see the concern with every glance he caught. Lup and Barry were playing cards on the coffee table. Kravitz, who could see only Barry’s hand, hummed disapprovingly when Barry set down a card.

He knew a talk was coming. After a nap, maybe, and some food. He couldn’t avoid telling them what was going on. A talk about what happened at Wonderland, probably, and how Taako had been dealing with it for months before today.

But right now, it was time to sleep. He was much too tried to protest when they draped a blanket over him, anyway. Cha’boy really, _really_ deserved a nap right now.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! my tumblr is [@barry-j-blupjeans](https://barry-j-blupjeans.tumblr.com/) on tumblr, if you wanna send in any prompts or just hang out or anything?


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